It’s not what you know…

Yo, Chef, GM, dude working in hospitality. Jonas here. Got a question for you. Ready? Ok, here we go.

Let’s say you feel stuck with your business. Let’s say you want to reach the next level. Maybe expand, maybe just attract more diners. Or, maybe, you want to revamp your menu, save money, reduce waste, buy cheaper. That stuff. Now, whom do you ask?

From the sadly now defunct "Pulp It". Social Media Monetizers.

You could, conceivably ask people who’ve been in the restaurant industry for a few decades. Who’ve been there, cooked that. Who ran their own restaurant(s), both as chefs and owners, who felt the cold sting of a recession before, who pulled out of it. You could try to find the guy who got his eleventh Michelin star with his seventh restaurant.

Or, you could find someone who made it a business to know about your business. Who went to school to learn about business. Who has worked with restaurants for years, has seen the in and out of the industry. Someone who knows a grease trap from a deep fryer, who knows what food costs are, and why they come to bite us in the arse every week.

Or would you go and hire someone who eats frequently in restaurants. Someone who has a microwave at home and can re-warm a killer salsa from 7/eleven in two minutes?

Definitely not that one, eh? That’d be stupid.

When you sit down at night, after the lights go out and the line is on its way home. When it gets cold in the back, and when the smell of kitchens, that very specific smell you’ve come to associate with your job, gets stronger, when you bend over your notepad and try to come up with a menu…

Is your first thought “oh, that Rachael Ray woman, she’s on TV, let’s see what her book says about cooking steak”. Or do you turn on FoodTV to learn how to poach an egg?

No, you don’t and you wouldn’t. That’d be stupid.

So why, pray tell, do you do exactly those things when looking for Social Media and technology consulting. You, without hesitation, see through the consumer glitter of Rachael Ray, you wouldn’t turn to Guy Fiery to learn how to make Tournedos Rossini. But every week, every day, every hour, some chef, some GM, some restaurant owner, pays big bucks and a lot of attention to the self styled “experts” in technology and social media.

© KoiFish.

Simple truth: you don’t learn to cook from reading cook books, you won’t learn social media from books, experts, and by paying money. There’s only one way: get in there and get cooking.

As chefs, we have learned to query the consumer but trust the producer. Except when it comes to web sites, Twitter, Facebook, and other technology. Suddenly someone using the service, a consumer, a diner, becomes the expert in making the service.

We have learned to cautiously observe our purveyors. Whenever there’s money to be made by selling to us, we have learned to ask twice, check thrice, question four times, then buy. Except when it comes to new media. A glitzy promise, a quick nod, and we’re in. We buy. We believe.

I know, it’s easy to be overwhelmed and fascinated by the things out there. A MyTwitFace (MySpace/Twitter/Facebook) presence is as important these days as a Yelp profile, a web site, good food, and not pissing off the restaurant reviewer. One might even argue that, with the slow decline of print media, a Facebook faux pas bears more potential repercussions than pouring hot soup down a reviewer’s lap.

Do what you would do for your menu. Ask the expert, not the self-proclaimed one. Ask the gals and guys who have worked, successfully, in social media. Don’t ask the guy who eats at restaurants, don’t ask the guy who has a Twitter account.

There are successful hospitality online presences out there. Ask them. Ask the people who made those happen. And, for all that is good and doesn’t spoil, you don’t turn to “Celebrity Chefs” for advice in your kitchen, don’t turn to “Social Media Consultants” for advice online.